badstar

Students nailing names of non-Christians to a cross. Students were nailing names to the cross as part of a high school See You At The Flag Pole thing. There is no information in the article about the exact nature of the act.

You know, there's a point where we're no longer talking about the freedom to express one's religion. This is...well, I don't have words. Hanging someone on a cross was a method of execution. Were they going for the symbolic execution angle? WHY would people do this? Oh yeah..because if you're not Christian, you're a satanist, you're going to hell, you're evil, you're horrible, you've rejected the "good news", you're not "saved".

I'm gonna be honest here...the term "saved" bugs me. Yes, it bugs me. And it's bothered me a whole lot ever since the day after Alex died. I went to school the day after she died, and I came home in the afternoon. Shortly after I walked in the door, I got a phone call. A friend of mine and Alex's, who was then attending a different school, found out that she had died and called me to talk a bit. A lot of us were doing a lot of talking, so it was nothing different. But Scott had something very particular in mind that he wanted to know. And his exact words burned themselves into my brain. He said "Renee, there's something I've wndered about for a long time and I've never been able to think of a good way or time to ask this, but now that she died I have to know and you would be the one to know the answer to this...was Alex saved? I need to know because she's gone to hell if she wasn't and I can't bear the thought of that."

Somewhat shocking, I don't remember how I responded. Alex didn't belong to a church, I don't think she was "saved". She was interested in spirituality and religion, but not just Christianity. Actually, she was very interested in Native American spirituality. Whatever, my train of thought just veered onto a sidetrack. And I'm reasonably sure Alex isn't burning in hell.

Saved. From what? Yes, I know from an eternity of damnation. I accepted long ago that I'm gonna burn in Hell...at east according to the tennets of the Christian faith. But hey, we all know how much I like fire, so that could be fun...

All jokes aside, I just dont know what to say. I don't know how to respond to a religion that says "This is the only valid way. If you don't go this way, you're just..wrong and that's all there is to it." Someone once said to me "Everyone's a Christian, they just havent found the church where they belong."

I beg to differ.

Honestly, I don't think anyone has it quite right. Including me. There's only one way to find out, ya know? But whatever the consequences are...do I believe that we're all gonna be tortured for eternity? NO. I really don't. And no, I don't take Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

You know, I'm not sure what my point here is anymore. But it really bothers me that peope do things like this. And this was done at a school. Yes, I know it wasn't school-sponsored. I don't care. It's not the school I'm having issues with here.

And so many Christians talk about being persecuted and not being allowed to express their faith in the public square.

Were I a lesser person, I'd call for Pagans to nail the names of those Christians to a wooden pentagram.

Note: Yes, a number of y'all who will read this are Christians. If you respond...well, do so as you see fit. This rant has been brought to you by a Disgruntled Fuego

And per the usual, there's no registration to read the article.